Loki Season 2 (2023) Review

Out of all the MCU Disney+ shows Loki was the best for me and it is also the only one so far to have a second season. The second season has finally finished and I have watched all 6 episodes and here is my review for it. The premise of the season picks up right where the last one finished with Loki trying to figure out what is going on with the branching timelines while trying to save the TVA from He Who Remains and his variants. 

Main Character

Tom Hiddleston has been playing Loki for so long now but this is easily his best performance in the role. He nails every aspect of this character to make him on of the most interesting in any film or TV show. Loki isn't the villain he once was but he still has those traits and the inner conflict is there and it is shown beautifully. He is scared after the events of the previous season and Hiddleston does an amazing job of conveying all types of emotion and he deserves awards for this amazing performance. 

Supporting Characters

I remember when it was revealed that Owen Wilson was cast as Mobius that I didn't understand how it would work. But he gives the best performance of his career here, the dynamic between himself and Loki is fantastic and is one of my favourite parts of the show. He has a real arc here and I loved seeing it progress throughout the season with Wilson nailing it. 

Sophia Di Martino is back as Sylvie and though this season doesn't revolve around her as much as the previous one does she still plays an important role and Di Martino nails it. She is clearly conflicted over her actions in the first season and throughout the show it puts that at the forefront of the performance and she does a great job. 

The only really major addition to the cast for this season was Ke Huy Quan as OB, an inventor at the TVA who helps Loki and Mobius. He is so energetic and adds so much to this show, he just really fits in with the crew and it is really cool seeing him in great roles lately. 

I am not going to mention his legal issues but Jonathan Majors is back in a larger role this season and he is fantastic, he plays a few different roles and I love how he is projected throughout the show and how he has been making all the variants feel very different despite being played by the same man. 

Story

The story is fantastically created. It follows on from the major cliff-hanger of the previous season and makes it even better. It improves on all of the characters and makes us care about them, especially with Loki himself who goes on a great character journey leading to the final which is an amazing episode of television. 

Script

The show is really written well, people criticise Marvel for an overuse of comedy sometimes but that is not present here. Here we have a brilliant blend with great characters being written really well and I can't stop praising it. 

Style 

The show looks beautiful, you can clearly see the care that has been put into it and the huge budget behind it. No matter what time period it is showing it nails it and kept me engaged throughout. It flowed really well and I was never bored during the 6 episodes. 

Overall

Overall, the 2nd season of Loki is a masterpiece and should be seen by everybody. They have taken this supporting character and turned him into the best character in the franchise, it feels like a fulfilling story arc over 2 seasons and I think this is one of the best things Marvel has ever done. 

Rating - 10/10

The Marvels (2023) Review

I think most people can agree that this isn't currently the best time for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and some of their projects haven't got the best responses. The next film to come out under this banner is The Marvels and I saw it the other day and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees Captain Marvel get her powers entangled with Kamala Khan & Monica Rambeau forcing them to work together in order to try and save the world. 

Main Character

Ever since she was cast as Captain Marvel it feels like Brie Larson has received a bunch of unnecessary criticism and I am going to say that I thought she was really good here. It seemed that she was actually having a lot of fun here and she made Carol Danvers a likeable character and one that I actually cared about. She has progressed as a character and the film does a good job in making her less over powered then she has been in previous films. 

Supporting Characters

I wasn't a huge fan of the Disney+ show Ms Marvel but I can't deny that I really enjoyed Iman Vellani's performance as Kamala Khan in this film. She is a complete fangirl here and she added so much energy to the film and was really fun as part of this larger project. 

Teyonah Parris reprises her role as Monica Rambeau and I thought she was very good too, she is the most serious of the three characters and the film does an okay job of showing that but Parris sells it well and makes you care about how her character has been affected by other characters actions. The chemistry between these three characters is what carries this film. 

Samuel L Jackson is once again back in the role of Nick Fury and he is clearly having the blast. The serious character from Secret Invasion is gone and he is here for comedic relief and though that is a little frustrating I can't deny that it was fun watching him here. 

Zawe Ashton plays the main villain Dar-Benn and she does a decent job, this won't be one of the most memorable MCU villains but I thought the character was pretty well written and Ashton did the best she could with the amount of screen time she had. 

Story

The story is okay, I think it does a really good job of establishing the three characters in case you haven't seen the Disney+ shows that Kamala & Monica are in. It establishes a bond between the three main characters and the issues that concern them, they also give the villain an interesting motivation that makes some sense. But the issue is that none of it is developed enough, it feels a bit rushed and like certain arcs aren't given enough time to shine and that holds the film back a bit. 

Script

The script is also just okay. There is some pretty good humour and some moments of conflict that hit hard but there just isn't quite enough. It doesn't take many gambles and is quite generic which leaves it a little short. 

Style 

The film looks pretty good it avoids the CGI issues of some previous MCU films and has some fun action sequences that due to some certain story choices allows for some real creativity. It's more of a pacing issue that the film has, it takes a bit of time to get going and then seems to rush at other times which makes it a little jarring. 

Overall

Overall, The Marvels is a good fun film. It will not save the MCU but it is a quick and easy fun film to go see, I think the reviews have been pretty harsh and I think it is worth a viewing especially for comic book fans. 

Rating - 7/10

Echo Season 1 (2024) Trailer Review

After her appearance in Hawkeye, the character of Maya Lopez/Echo gets her own spinoff show here and there has been some pretty bad reports that have come out about the production of the show. But we now have a trailer for the show so we can make some early judgments on what to expect for the show that comes out next year and here is my review for the trailer. 

Wilson Fisk is back as we see the origins of his relationship with Maya

The big twist of Hawkeye was the reveal that Wilson Fisk AKA The Kingpin was bought into the MCU after his amazing appearances in Netflix's Daredevil and it was revealed that he is a father figure to Echo. Here we learn more about the start of the relationship between Maya & Fisk and shows how she became the person that she is. 

Maya Lopez is still a bad person

Despite the fact that she is going to be the main protagonist of this show, this trailer is making it quite clear that she is a bad person. She is a mobster in Hawkeye and despite some good moments she is violent and capable of bad things and that is seemingly going to be able to allow her to do some bad things here. 

Echo is deaf and an amputee

This trailer does a good job of reminding us that Echo is a deaf character but also that she is missing a leg and has to use a prosthetic to help her move about. I suspect that will be bought into play here with possibly her losing her prosthetic during an action sequence. 

The show seems to be embracing Echo's Native American background 

It was again slightly addressed in Hawkeye that Maya has a Native American Background and that is emphasised here by seeing her community. I expect that they are going to be under attack from the antagonists in this show which causes her to go on her rampage. 

Charlie Cox is back as Daredevil

Last time we saw Charlie Cox play Matt Murdoch/Daredevil was in She-Hulk but he is back here. We only see a brief glimpse of him in an action scene here but it is important to mention that he is back to wearing the Red suit from his own Netflix show with Marvel Studios clearly listening to the fan response after his previous appearance. 

Wilson Fisk survived the events of Hawkeye

I mean this was pretty obvious by even though he was shot in the face by Maya in the Hawkeye Finale, Fisk has survived just minus an eye. This is going to be important for The MCU and I think it is pretty easy to predict that he will be revealed as the main villain here and maybe other projects in the future. 

This is going to be a violent show and closer to the Netflix Marvel Shows Tone. 

The biggest thing for me here is the fact that this show is going to easily be the most violent thing that has been officially made by the MCU. We see plenty of blood, people getting beaten to a pulp and people being shot in the face, it feels like the Marvel shows that Netflix made and I am very happy to see that. 

Echo will be the first title under Marvel Spotlight

So it wasn't in the trailer but shortly afterwards Marvel Studios and Disney announced that Echo will be the first release under a new banner called Marvel Spotlight. It is believed that these shows/films will be more violent and focus on street level heroes that aren't that connected to the main MCU continuity. I really like this and think it will allow us to see characters that we haven't seen done properly in a while and is something fresh for this universe. 

Overall

Overall, I wasn't very excited for Echo before seeing this trailer. However, I am now really excited for this show and the fact that all the episodes are being released on the same day means it will be an easy watch and I am really hoping that this is really good. 

Tomb Raider (2013) Review

Between the releases of Mortal Kombat 1 and Spider-Man 2, I wanted to play an older game that I remembered enjoying so I decided to replay the reboot of Tomb Raider. Now that I have paused playing the other games, I have completed my playthrough of this game and here is my review for it. The premise of the game sees a young Lara Croft and the rest of her crew stranded on an island that has some mysterious challenges for survival. 

Characters

Camilla Luddington takes over the iconic role of Lara Croft and she does a fantastic job in this game. She delivers her lines well and I felt like she was realistic in the role, she is new to the majority of this stuff but has enough training to make it believable that she can stand up to the opposition. I cared about Lara and this is easily the most brutal depiction of the character ever, it isn't sexualised and treats her as this survivor that this whole game is building her up to be. 

Unfortunately, the rest of the characters don't fair so well. There is a big crew that arrives with Lara on the island but none of them are particularly interesting. The best the game does is Sam who is Lara's best friend and Roth who is her mentor but these aren't that great and it makes some emotional moments fall flat. The rest of the crew are super generic and I didn't care about any of them even though the game clearly wants me too. 

The villains are also poor. It is just some random group of mercenaries led by a guy who offers very little to the character. They do introduce some different villains towards the end of the game but don't really explain them very well and leave it too late to introduce them. 

Story

Despite the lacklustre characters, I actually really liked the story that was told here. It depicts this young woman trying to survive on this island by using just her wits and weapons she can get a hold of. Lara's personal journey really works here and the actual story does a great job of telling this origin story for the character we all know and love. 

Side Content

The side content is a mixed bag. Even though this game is called Tomb Raider, the actual Tomb's are a side content and they are pretty well done. These activities made me think about how to complete them and it feels more like a traditional Tomb Raider game which is nice to see. However, there is some side content that feels like window dressing and underdeveloped. For example, there is hunting in this game, but it isn't actually its own thing and is way worse then a game such as Red Dead Redemption 2. The collectibles are also pretty dull and didn't really incentivise me to collect them. 

Gameplay

This game is really fun with its gameplay. You start with a bow and arrow and as the game progresses you collect more weapons and tools to use to help Lara. The movement and platforming is really fun and traversing this massive island was a joy. But I did feel some of the gameplay was a little janky and hard to use, especially with the gunplay. I do wonder if they did that to link with Lara's quality which does make some sense but it was a little annoying. Also the final boss battle felt way too easy and like they rushed the ending which was a big shame. 

Graphics

The graphics for the game are fantastic. The character models looks great and the island as a whole is really fun to travel across and never get bored of. It is a really nice looking and sounding game that clearly has a load of hard work put into it. 

Overall

Overall, Tomb Raider is a good game. It does a really good job of building up the character of Lara Croft and despite some miscues I had a good time playing it. It is probably really cheap now so I would recommend giving it a go if you have the time. 

Rating - 7/10